Long Snake Moan
by sothereyougo
Summary: "The only light was in a pool on the floor, like it was poured over him, moonlight milky and pearlescent in a low-grade throbbing ebb and flow…"
1. Chapter 1

**Pairings/Characters:** Mostly Kyle / Zoe. Madison, cameos by other characters.

 **Spoilers/Warnings/Triggers:** Through Season Three of AHS. AU with the setting approximately around some of the events of "The Axeman Cometh" but diverging in story from it and from some earlier facts, most importantly that Madison has not died and been resurrected, but is just plain alive. I have also fictionally adjusted the timeline of Season One as occurring in the relatively-recent past and not concurrent to Season Three, which will make sense when you read the story. Mature themes, language, and explicit sexual situations in a lot of flavors. Trigger warning for some noncon bordering on dubcon because of taking place in AHS-world where magical realism is a foundation. (Real world equivalent would be noncom for sure.) Power-related kink and mild violence, drug use. **Disclaimer:** All characters and concepts belong to the original authors, and their copyrights are sacrosanct. None of this world is mine.

 **A/N:** Written for the ahs_exchange on LJ. Winner of "Favorite Character" for Round 4, Jan. 2014. (Character name is a spoiler, but you'll easily be able to guess who it is.) Title is from "Long Snake Moan" by Polly Jean Harvey from _To Bring You My Love_ , 1995. Italicized text is either a character thinking rather than speaking aloud or a character remembering a scene, in other words, a flashback. I edited a little since the exchange posting to clarify / fix a couple of things. Title song lyrics at the end. Special note: All voodoo references are fiction and based on limited research and not first-hand knowledge. No offense towards the culture or religion is intended.

* * *

The only light was in a pool on the floor, like it was poured over him, moonlight milky and pearlescent in a low-grade throbbing ebb and flow, maybe from the wind blowing something around outside the greenhouse, like lava if it was cold-molten instead of hot. And, yeah, Kyle was bathed in it, sleeping the sleep of the enchanted sailor charmed into a near-death trance by a couple of creepy mermaids who'd dashed his ship on some rocks, except it was a couple of witches who had, in fact, resurrected him from the actual death one of them had previously dealt him by dashing the party bus he was dragged onto, unconscious then too, by his scumbag frat buddies, dashed it into a street-level death roll, fire and flames included at no extra charge, and this sleep was in actual fact enchanted by magic also because otherwise they could have never gotten him chained up or to shut up with the bellowing and freaking out over that being chained up part.

Zoe sat on the floor next to Kyle trying pretty hard herself not to freak out over all that had happened and over what she and Madison had done, the punishment she had meted out in the hospital to that utter piece of shit rapist, Archie, not because of some big guilt complex over it, more because she _didn't_ feel particularly bad about giving him what he deserved. Instead, she kinda saw it as correcting what fate and karma had screwed up by taking Kyle instead, not that she thought it was her right to decide those things necessarily, just that she didn't actually care whether there was some mystical plan that some deity had set in motion that would only work if things played out like they had before the witches intervened.

If there was, then she did think that deity generally sucked and was probably some kind of sadist or was just not that impressive if it couldn't spin its web without letting so much random bad shit happen to good people all the time. Zoe was for free will anyway, and for witches that clearly meant you could try to fix things at least some of the time and then see how it turned out. At any rate it seemed better than just some asshole somewhere knocking over the first domino and then grinning insanely or, worse still, taking a nap while all the other dominoes got torpedoed whether they'd done anything to deserve it or not.

As for her partner in this venture, maybe Madison was a messed-up person before all of this even started from being something of a sad cliché of a child star and from having followed the path that sort of life could set you up for, especially if you really did have shitty family, which Madison apparently did, but it didn't make what they did to her any less heinous. Then, Madison saying Kyle would have done the same thing to justify not feeling bad about killing an innocent person just showed how messed up she really was, her world view that was so skewed she could think that there wasn't even such a thing as innocence, a perspective Zoe hoped she'd never grow so jaded as to share.

The main freak-worthy thing that she was so confused about now though was what they'd done together by resurrecting Kyle, and Zoe didn't know how much of it was the spell and how much of it was how it felt when she thought it didn't work and was kissing him goodbye, only to have him come roaring back all fucked-up Frankenstein's-monster-whirlwind-of-chaos-matricidal-boy. Now that Misty had mostly healed his scars, they were nearly invisible in the dimness, and, with his eyes closed like this, their particular Frankenstein's monster's face didn't fit the parallel at all because there wasn't so much as a scratch on it, porcelain-pale and perfect in the moonlight, and without her even deciding to her fingers reached out and traced a path of loopy curves over the cherubic waves and curls of his hair, their near-platinum a stark contrast to the other-end-of-the-spectrum darkness of his eyes that had been lively and bright with humor and intelligence when they'd met but had something murkier than their charred coal blackness looking out of them now.

Since he was powerless to explain, Zoe didn't know yet if it was some remaining fragment of the old Kyle when he clung to her like he did sometimes, if it was him showing her _because_ he couldn't tell her how terrified he was and him needing her because she was the last good thing he recalled from before he died, or if the consciousness in his head now didn't even remember her, didn't remember Zoe at all, and only reacted out of some feral-animal method of assessing those around him as belonging to one of a binary of duly-limited or more like dually-limited categories, as either dangerous or as essential to his survival, and he'd put her in the latter category.

It hurt not knowing, but it wasn't stopping her fingers from leaving his hair, the tip of the index one following the line of his Cupid's bow upper, a quick glance to make sure he was still out for the count, before ever-so-gently measuring the fullness of his lower lip with the side of her thumb. The ache was still there too, the one she'd felt growing, the paradox of a knot of pain simultaneously blossoming out in her chest, as they'd talked that first night, then because her witchly curse had meant she couldn't have ever really had him if she had decided she even wanted to because it would mean his death and now because she knew she did, wanted what was left of him, even though just talking to her at all had indirectly killed him anyway and thus compelled this resurrection. She'd breached the laws of nature with magic to have him back, and the power to do so came from the same place as the essential thing preventing their union, and it stood implacable sentry right where her body told her she wanted him still.

* * *

Madison waited until Zoe had gone and stepped out of the shadows and over to the figure on the floor that had absorbed so much of the other witch's interest. She stared and stared and tried to imagine what the other girl had seen to keep her lingering there beside him. She sat down on the greenhouse floor in the same spot and brushed her fingers over Kyle's hair and mouth just as Zoe had. He had beautiful lips for sure. Overall, the face was definitely pretty for a boy, but because she'd been on the ball they'd given him a better body than he'd had before, which, if you considered resurrection as canceling out the necrophilia aspect, was like some hotness-enhancing Hollywood makeover on witch-crack, and she oughta know from the things she'd seen, not to mention that at least everything on Kyle was real and not made of plastic. Since he didn't actually rape her, and since Zoe seemed to have a thing for him, she was glad they'd brought him back. Additionally, regarding things "on him", that was one pretty sweet cock she'd picked out for him too. She'd made damn sure she was the one choosing that bit, since Zoe wouldn't have known jack about how to pick a dick. " _Heh, that's a good one, 'pick a dick.'_ "

She continued her exploring down Kyle's chest and over the taut torso they'd selected for him more or less together, carefully lifting the hem of his t-shirt to take a good look and then holding it up with one hand while she ran the palm of the other over the bare skin a few times. Nice. While she was at it, she might as well make a thorough inspection, so Madison slid the heel of that same hand down lower over the fleshy area in the front of his jeans. Kyle stirred a bit in his sleep and made a few little animal grunts. The cock that was now his was responding to her touch too, and she always had enjoyed how that got her a guy's full attention, except for in this case he was asleep still. Now that he was hard, she changed over to a light grasp encircling what she could through the fabric and moving her fingers slowly up and down. She knew she was playing with fire, but then that wasn't a new thing for her in the figurative sense even if it was in the literal one. Madison grinned to herself at the thought of using her growing powers over the kind of people who had always tried to steal additional things from her in exchange for having only grudgingly relinquished what she had earned and thus actually deserved in the first place.

Now that she knew she was a witch, she was going to go for it whenever she could get away with it, Fiona or no Fiona. And meanwhile old Kyle here was getting hotter and harder, and that meant he was getting a little more vocal, not that he was any more articulate than most guys when she was rubbing on their dicks.

"Zooeee."

Madison's hand went still.

"Baby's first word. How precious."

Her tone was all "what-evs" sneer, like she gave a damn what this turnip wanted or who he wanted it from. But then Kyle's eyes flew open. The drowsy dull sheen vanished almost instantly from his eyes, and a rage that seemed called up from the inky depths of the deepest sea took its place. His chains rattled violently as he strained to slap her hand away. Unable to reach, he opened his mouth to howl. Madison recoiled, but only for a second, before her now-empty hand flew up and made a slicing motion across her throat, the knuckles next fluttering past her own briefly-closed eyes. Silenced once more, Kyle's head hit the floor with a little thud as her spell sent him back to dreamland before he could raise the house with some ill-timed caterwauling.

" _Way to over-react, dude_." Did he now remember that it was she who'd snuffed him? Or was it that her very touch was so repulsive because of his unfathomable attachment to Zoe? How could that be? He barely knew her before he got shredded on the bus, and it had been _her_ idea, not Zoe's, to bring him back. Zoe would have just sat around sniveling and moaning, and she'd owed her that much after being the one to kill him in the first place, to give it a shot, but this pretty freak was going to show her he was grateful, and soon. Actually, both of them were going to. So maybe her first reaction had been all blasé Hollywood, but her eyes were hard, hard and cold like some reptilian creature that had grown a damn hard shell a long time ago out of necessity to try to shut out pain but had frozen solid at the same time from the inside out. You did what you had to to survive after all. No use crying about things now, not when it worked so much better to do something about it instead.

* * *

He was a little west of San Antonio with maybe 500 miles left to go. On I-10 it was a straight shot. Maybe he'd have to pick up something with a nasty low purr when he stopped for the night. This Prius was too fucking quiet whenever he took a break from listening to music, which ruined the whole driving halfway across the country ambience of the trip. It did get mileage like a motherfucker, which was saving him some cash, but he wasn't about to roll into NOLA in this thing. It _was_ a freakin' hilarious cliché that the late, unlamented hippie-looking dude owner of the vehicle had been holding a nice stash of weed, some pretty kind buds at that, strong without being overly speedy, which he adjusted for with the occasional bump of coke to get the perfect driving-alertness quotient, enough to keep focused, but not enough to get him so wired that he couldn't stand being cooped up in the car for hours.

As a matter of fact, everything was winding down now at about the right time, his buzz sliding downhill into a pleasant, spacey hum, which meant that the decision was more or less made: he'd stop in San Antonio for some food, sleep, and to boost a hotter ride, hotter in the sense of an engine that kicked some ass, since it would be no more nor less hot stolen-car-wise than this one. It was smarter to switch anyway. He really loved it when a plan came together all smooth and easy-like. There would be plenty of time for excitement when he got to The Big Easy her own bad self, and he'd make sure it worked out that way because the only hell he knew for sure, plain and simple, was boredom, a state he could not abide, and Louisiana was anything but that.

* * *

"Yes, this is Zoe."

"It's me, Misty, Misty Day."

"I remember. What's up?"

"How's Kyle?"

"About the same. He seems fine physically and all, but he's still too freaked to let run around loose. The thing with his mother, you know—"

"I get it. Well, I'm mostly fine, I guess. But anyway, it's you, you and that Madison. I'm callin' about somethin' else, to warn you."

"What? Warn me about what?"

"Somethin's coming your way, maybe our way really. I don't know for sure, just that's why I'm callin' you from a pay phone in a diner. Whatever it is smells power, power like we used to, um, fix the broken things we wanted to get back in working order. Anyway, I'm layin' low at my place, and I know a couple of other things I can do to keep it off me, but it may be too late for you two to just hide."

"How do you know this?"

"I just do is all. And everybody knows you can't take somethin' back from that side without giving somethin' in return to fill the space, and you don't usually get to pick what. It's the balance of the universe, how it has to be."

"What do we do?"

"I don't know. Keep an eye peeled mostly and be ready."

"Okay. I just, I don't know what to say here exactly. Thanks for the heads-up at least, Misty."

"It's all right, Zoe. I have to get goin' now, but watch your back around that place too, in general, okay?"

"What does that mean?"

"It means whatever's comin' might not be the only thing you gotta watch out for. Girls can get awful mean if they never learned how to share, and I don't get much of a sharin' vibe offa that Madison, if you take my meaning."

"Yeah, I guess I do, but I think Madison is more of a diva from being a movie star or whatever, not out to get me or anything."

"Doesn't hurt to be careful all the same. I gotta go now."

"Okay. Thanks again, Misty."

"Take care of Kyle for me."

"I will."

"Bye."

"Bye, Misty."

* * *

"I am so fucking bored. I hate being bored. It's the worst."

Zoe looked up from the mildewy-smelling tome she was poring over looking for protection spells and charms. There was one using sage that had looked a little promising, but then it had turned out to be for houses mostly, which meant it wasn't quite right but might help if she couldn't find anything better.

"I'm certain there are worse things, Madison."

"Don't be a smart ass. Come out and play with me."

"Seriously?"

"God. No sense of humor either. We're in _New Orleans_ , for fuck's sake. Let's go to the Quarter and find a party."

"The last party we found didn't turn out so great, if you recall."

"Jesus. Would you lighten up please? Yeah, that one did have its own special kind of suckness, but does that mean we never leave the house again? We're young. We're hot. We should be out dancing and driving them out of their minds wanting it."

Zoe raised a brow.

"Okay, well, that just means you can't do that _one_ thing. Did you flunk sex ed. or what? There's more than one way to get off, right? I doubt your vag. amputates fingers or tongues or vaporizes dildoes—"

"Oh my God! Just shut _up_ —"

"I will if you go out with me."

"Fine, I could use a drink, or ten. Let's go."

"Oh no, you're not wearing _that_.. You can borrow something of mine."

"I have my own clothes. Let's just get changed and go. It actually sounds pretty good to get out of here for awhile, take a break."

"From being a mopey bitch."

"Or not."

"Thin skin much? You know I'm just kidding. He's not going anywhere. Obviously. He'll still be here when you get back. Anyway, I have the perfect earrings for you and all that hair. You need something dangly, heh heh, to even be visible."

Zoe didn't even have to look up from marking her place in the book before closing it to know that Madison had crudely mimed a swinging dick when she said the word "dangly", and besides she could tell by the way the shadows on that side of the room shifted around on the wall in her peripheral vision.

"So you just really want me to be your dress-up Barbie then, don't you?"

"Now, _you_ shut up."

Madison finished scrounging through the tangle in her jewelry case and held up a pair that were narrow spirals of what was probably white gold or platinum with a single teardrop red gem at the end of each.

"Those _are_ nice, thanks. Rubies?"

"Yep. Not slippers, but still perfect for witches."

* * *

Zoe had her back turned, checking out the serpent earrings in the mirror. Madison just hadn't been able to resist.

" _But I have to kill the snake myself?"_

 _"_ _Yeah, girl. Go to the store I told you. They have the pet ones for sale. Skinny little green snakes look a lot like you. How you goin' to hex somebody with a snake curse if you too scared to do the sacrifice your own self?"_

 _Being so focused on the transaction at hand, Madison hadn't even seen him coming until he was standing right next to their table._

 _"_ _Hey, Cherice. How ya been?"_

 _"_ _Aw, Melly. Shit. When you get back in town?"_

 _"_ _You know I can't stay away from Lurene's cooking too long. I need the heat."_

 _"_ _I never seen you eat a bite. All you do is drink your dinner. You a insult to Lurene's gumbo."_

 _Melly was a guy in his early twenties maybe, thin, but with nice shoulders and dark, wavy hair._

 _"_ _You ought to know just because you don't see a thing happen doesn't mean it hasn't. I eat plenty. Aren't you going to introduce me to your friend?"_

 _He turned his gaze to her, and Madison took in the easy grin that didn't match the intensity in the eyes. She knew the type. Coke maybe, or meth., but he was smokin' hot all the same. The smile was working for him._

 _"_ _Sorry, Melly. This here's Madison. Madison, this is Melly. He's a devil, but it goes down nice mosta' the time."_

 _"_ _Nice to meet you, Madison."_

 _"_ _Same here, Melly."_

 _He didn't move his eyes from hers, and the smile never wavered when he continued._

 _"_ _Cherice, darlin', you give this girl her money back, and go on about your business. We're all friends here now. It'll be all right."_

 _"_ _Melly, come on. Madison here knows what she wants. She ain't no delicate little flower, not a bit. She don't want you interferin' in her business."_

 _That's right. I don't know what you overheard, but I'll bite the head off the snake myself if I need to. Sometimes I spit. Sometimes I swallow."_

 _"_ _Charming."_

 _He turned to look at Cherice who was still clearly hoping to close her deal. Instead, what might have been a flicker of fear passed over her face. It was so fast Madison couldn't be sure, and besides she couldn't see that well over the mug of beer she'd raised to her lips. Negotiation was thirsty work._

 _"_ _Here you go, Ms. Madison. You tell her, Melly. I wasn't tryin' to do nothin' wrong. You know that's the truth."_

 _"_ _You go on now, and we'll see you around. I'll tell her. Like I said, it's all good and fine."_

 _"_ _Okay, Melly. Bye now."_

 _Madison watched Cherice attempt to flee the scene with her dignity still intact and decided she did okay with it from walking nice and slow, which made it look more like sashaying out of her own choice rather than what it was. Then, she turned back to face Melly._

 _"_ _Well, was she fucking with me or what?"_

 _He was all politeness still._

 _"_ _May I sit?"_

 _"_ _Yes. Go ahead. I don't know why I'm asking you that. Why should I trust you any more than her?"_

 _"_ _Well, I guess you can't. Cherice isn't a fake, but if she was selling you what I think she was, you don't want to get into that. Cherice mostly sticks to Rada, and what you were buying is all Petro, the dark side of that stuff too, which fits with your pile of cash she just parted with like it was her firstborn child. You sure you want to go down that road?"_

 _"_ _I know what I'm doing. Like she said, I'm not some shrinking whatever. Some people I know need setting straight, and I'm doing it so it will stick, by breaking him since he's her favorite pet monster, or he wants to be. Doesn't matter 'cause, either way, it's none of your business, Melly."_

 _Madison drawled out the word, almost singing it, just like she was saying "smelly" instead. He needed to know not to try to lord it over her. It wouldn't work out well for him, and she didn't necessarily want to scar up the nice packaging this time, not if she didn't have to._

 _"_ _Besides, what kind of name is that?"_

 _"_ _It's the kind that's mine, that's what. I could ask you the same thing, except I know the answer: the made-up actressy kind. Anyway, like I was sayin', some doors you open, then you can't close them back, not for money, not for anything. I'm not sure you're getting that, so, yeah, it may be none of my business, but I was just trying to help. What exactly did she tell you to do?"_

 _"_ _How do you know about this stuff anyway, white boy?"_

 _"_ _Pot, kettle. Answer the question."_

 _"_ _And a bossy little bitch too. Okay, I don't care, so I'll tell you and get your big important opinion on it."_

 _"_ _Talk about a bossy little bitch."_

 _If you didn't know that they were both smirking their faces off while trying to be all cool and bad-ass, you'd think they were getting ready to have an actual fight of some kind. Madison liked it. She didn't like people who didn't push back, and she definitely wasn't one of those people herself._

 _"_ _Only if you tell me how you know about this stuff, your credentials."_

 _"_ _Spoken like somebody who's spent way too much time with lawyers."_

 _"_ _So?"_

 _"_ _So, besides my street cred., I'm a grad. student at Tulane, or I was—"_

 _"_ _Expelled?"_

 _"_ _Not exactly. World religions and history. Fascinating stuff."_

 _"_ _But no diploma? Too bad."_

 _Melly tapped the side of his head. He was wearing a silver-toned ring on his index finger in the shape of a skull with the eyes x'ed out. It was creepy, but still sorta sexy, which was not at all surprising anywhere really, but especially not in this town._

 _"_ _They can't take back the knowledge I got. It's all still in here."_

 _"_ _Okay, fine. Cherice said to take some hair from the head of the person and tie it to a snake I killed myself. Then, I was supposed to bury it in the yard. Also, keep some of the snake blood and put it in his food. It's supposed to make snakes grow inside him, make him sick, not kill him because I could stop it once I got my point across. Satisfied?"_

 _"_ _That was never going to work. She mixed two curses together, probably so you wouldn't call too much attention to yourself from one of the less tourist-friendly Petro loa. The guy might have gotten sick from drinking animal blood, but it wouldn't be because of any actual voodoo. In this case, I think my girl Cherice was doing the right thing for you."_

 _"_ _Tourist, huh? You don't know who you're dealing with, not to mention you don't sound local at all yourself."_

 _"_ _I never said I was."_

 _"_ _Okay then."_

 _"_ _Damn straight, 'Okay then'."_

 _There was that killer smile again, the bastard._

 _"_ _Now, let me get you another drink, and then I'll tell you how you take care of this business once and for all. First off, you may be going after the wrong one, but, don't worry, we'll get that all sorted out."_

And they had. The best way to show Kyle who was large and in charge around here was to focus on Zoe, on getting her in line. It would work out better for the plans Madison had that went way beyond some patchwork Cabbage Patch doll-boy too, not the only thing she hadn't filled Melly in on, but it was the most important. On the smaller potatoes side, she hadn't bothered to mention that growing a pile of snakes in Kyle's guts couldn't have killed him even if it had worked because he'd already been dead and resurrected, so all Melly's "Don't go over to the dark side, Luke" stuff was bullshit. The bigger picture was that Madison was going to be the next Supreme, and she was going to make sure that Zoe wouldn't be trying to stand in her way. Didn't mean she couldn't play with her cake before she ate it though, and she'd always had a hard time deciding between desserts when there was more than one flavor to choose from.

"Okay, I'm ready. I just have to take Kyle some food, and then we can go."

"Fine. Just don't take all night about it."

"Wasn't planning to."

"You do need a drink. Or something."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing, nothing."

"Okay, if you say so."

* * *

 _"_ _So good thing. Not 'thing'! Wrong…wrong! Is 'person'. Girl. So beautifulness. Wrong. 'Beautiful', not 'beautifulness'. Head is wrong, wrong, wrong_."

"I wish you could talk to me and tell me what you're thinking."

"Mmmm...Eeee. Zooee."

"Yes! It's Zoe. Good, you do know me. I didn't mean to make you feel worse. Jesus. That's the last thing I want to do. It seems like you're already getting calmer every day. It'll be okay, Kyle, I promise."

"Okay."

He nodded.

She put her hand on his, then rested the other on the manacle around his wrist.

"I really want to take these off and leave them off, but they're not to punish you, Kyle. Do you get that? They're to keep you safe even though that probably doesn't make any sense."

He raised the wrist Zoe was touching, fingers awkwardly brushing over her hair.

"Soft…. No, safe."

"No, you were right. Hair is soft, and the 'safe' thing? It's like, sometimes when people are hurt, like in the hospital recovering, and maybe you don't know where you are because of being confused from your injuries. So, to keep you safe, they put these restraining straps on you to keep you from hurting yourself by mistake or getting up too soon. It's not exactly the same thing, but you are hurt, Kyle, and it's not safe for you to go out on your own yet, but it has to get better. It has to."

"Getting. Not safe. See things here..."

Kyle moved his other hand to his head.

"…See things right..."

He shook his head sadly.

"…Words wrong. All words wrong."

"No, Kyle. Not all wrong. I think I get it. I think you're saying you can think of things in images and concepts, but the words are getting mixed up sometimes. Is that right?"

"Yes."

He smiled.

"Okay then. It _will_ keep getting better then. It's already better than it was."

"Yes, better."

"I brought you something to eat. Are you hungry?"

An image of Zoe with no clothes on popped into Kyle's head, slender and leggy and with perfect little pink nipples. He wanted to bite them.

"Yes. Hunger."

"Good. I don't know what you like, so I'm sticking with kinda boring stuff. I think you can manage the sandwich yourself. It's PBJ. Let me take this off your right hand. I think you're right-handed…."

She removed one manacle.

"…Okay, here ya go."

She placed the bread in his hand, but he just looked at it. Zoe sighed.

"All right. We can try both. I know it's hard to eat a sandwich with just one hand, but first, look at me, Kyle."

"Yes."

"Please, please don't try to run away. Please, Kyle? I don't want to make you go to sleep again. Please don't make me. I want to be able to trust you."

Naked Zoe in his head had the same face on, and one word to call it was "sad", but that wasn't all. Besides that, he was getting very distracted because all he really wanted was to kiss the mouth, put his hands on the pretty skin, wanted to a lot.

"Trust me."

"Okay, it's off."

She massaged his newly-freed wrist and gave him a look that was still too many things at the same time. It was way too hard to think of the words for it, especially when she was touching him. He could feel his cock beginning to stir. He took a huge bite of the sandwich and started chewing.

"Hungry."

"Okay, I brought you some chicken noodle soup too, but I don't think you're ready for a spoon yet, not with something hot anyway. So, I put it in a mug. That way we can help you just sort of drink it, but you have to chew the chicken and the noodles and stuff, okay? I'm sorry, Kyle. I don't want to be talking to you like you're a little kid. I know you're not, but I don't want you to choke or burn yourself. This sucks. I'm so sorry, Kyle, for everything."

"No cry, Zoe."

The hunger in his belly and something much like it in his cock and naked Zoe in his head and sad Zoe right here got all jumbled up, and it made his brain hurt. To make it stop, he dropped the sandwich and grabbed her, fingers biting into her upper arms, his mouth latching onto hers like a drowning man who was going down for the last time and she had the only air left in the sea he was drowning in, the Sea of Zoe. So good. The searing need born of wanting and deprivation made him greedy for more, so he pushed one hand between her legs, fingers curled, rubbing, rubbing. One finger breached the cloth stuff that was in his way from the side, and he got her wetness on him.

"Mmmmmmm, Zoe."

She was kissing him and making sounds, but then it stopped. He fell backwards like what that mean girl did, but yet not, not as hard, like Zoe cared about not hurting him, which was very good. They'd both pushed him down without using their hands though. It was very confusing.

"No, Kyle. Not like this. Please settle down, okay?"

"How?"

She looked confused too.

"What? Oh, I didn't mean you were doing it wrong. I meant, 'not now', 'not right now.' It's gonna be okay though. See? You got a little excited, but you're not trying to break things or losing your shit. You really are doing better, I think. Come on and eat your soup, okay? I know you're still hungry."

After she left it was just dark. Kyle sat with his knees pulled up to his chest and one arm wrapped around them. The other hand smelled like the ocean if it was sweet too and not just salty. It smelled like Zoe. He licked the finger carefully, the one that had gotten some of her on it. He _had_ to be careful because he didn't want to lick all the Zoe's smell off, but he couldn't wait forever. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, breathing in her scent. Naked Zoe in his head opened her legs and smiled at him.

* * *

This Lurene's joint was a perfect dive bar, quintessential New Orleans as far as Zoe knew, which, admittedly, was from severely limited experience considering that this was the first one she'd been to. It was nice and dark, and the bar itself was some kind of really dense-feeling old wood, and that was dark too, varnish etched with scratches, the tables and everything else worn with time and use and not some faux-antique mechanically-distressed bullshit. The beer was a local microbrew on tap that Madison had ordered without even asking her first, some reddish-amber-colored kind that she said was a "lager". At any rate, it was cold and tasted right for the setting, kinda rustic and historical, not that anybody else would use such terminology for describing beer.

Something about the aroma coming out of the glass made her think of Kyle, of his open mouth and his tongue snaking right on in and coiling with hers, and she could still feel the hum where his fingers went questing too, every bit as urgently as his tongue. When one of the fingers breached her panties, the jolt of sensation had been so sharp and clear: it was like the snake finally bit, and she woke up with a snap, the lust-induced trance penetrated at the last second by the sudden nearness of impending catastrophe because, before that, she hadn't wanted him to stop, had drifted along for a little while just riding the tide of what was happening, probably because it was what she desperately wished she could have.

Even now, just breathing in the mingled grain and sweet and spice from the lager and letting the flavors roll around in her mouth brought it all back, the low hum down where Kyle's fingers had briefly been quickly morphing into a prickle of tingling on the outside and a hollowing contraction on the inside, her cunt impervious to Zoe's first-hand experience of what would happen if she succumbed to this desire, her body making room for him, inner and outer flesh waxing turgid and lush with heightened blood flow, waiting for Kyle to...

"Hell-oooo, Zoe. Are you even listening to me?"

"Sorry."

'Yeah, okay. I was saying the bartender told me the band will start soon. He said they always start late, but they're worth it, real-deal New Orleans swampy Zydeco shit and definitely stuff we can dance to."

"Sounds good."

Zoe took a couple of gulps of beer and then decided to finish the rest.

Madison flashed an only-slightly-mocking leer.

"I know what you were thinking about, and I don't blame you."

Zoe made a study of setting her empty beer glass down dead center on the cocktail napkin.

"Yeah? I thought Nan was the clairvoyant one."

"Don't need the sight to know you can't wait to have our new pet zombie put that mouth where it can do some good, since he can't use it for much else than slurping his dinner."

"He's not a zombie. And don't be gross."

"Don't forget I've seen him naked too. You liked him before. There's nothing wrong with wanting him now."

"What I want is a shot. You're the big expert, so what should we get?"

"Now you're talking. Also, I think we've been looking at this Kyle situation the wrong way."

"What do you mean?"

"He's already died his one natural, biological death. I was just giving you shit about him being a zombie, but he sort of is in the one way that counts, lucky for you."

"What are you even talking about?"

"I'm talking about how Kyle is only actually alive by magical means, so your coochie curse can't kill him now because he's all 'Been there, got the t-shirt.'"

"Maybe. I don't know."

"We'll see. We'll definitely see. Okay, I'm not in the mood for tequila, but nothing too sweet either. I know..."

Madison waved the bartender over.

"...What's a good bourbon for shots?"

"You girls lookin' to sip and savor or just want somethin' to chase with beer?"

"The second one."

"Then Four Roses Yellow is a good choice."

"Two shots then and another round of beers."

"Yes ma'am."

The bartender poured the whiskey and served up the requested beers. Zoe picked up her shot glass and took a whiff.

"Never had bourbon before, but here goes nothing, I guess."

Madison held up her glass.

"We should toast: 'Witches rule. Let the boys drool.'"

"Some more than others."

Madison stopped with the drink an inch from her mouth.

"Which part?"

"Both."

Zoe smirked and started to down her shot but hesitated when a strange feeling almost like a shiver went down her back. Turning to look, she saw a dark-haired guy at a corner table looking back at her. Instead of hastily glancing away in embarrassment at being caught, he grinned a slow molasses grin while something in his eyes even at a distance in the bar light made her feel like she was in the middle of one of those dreams where you're unaccountably naked in public, but the frisson of uneasiness that inspired, instead of making her want to flee and find her metaphorical clothes, was mixed up with a keen desire to preen and blossom under the heat of his brazen assessment.

"Like that guy."

Madison peered over to see who Zoe was talking about.

"That's not just any drooling boy. That's Melly."

"What's a 'Melly'?"

"Bottoms up, and then you can ask him yourself 'cause he's headed our way."


	2. Chapter 2

Everything was going according to plan. He couldn't be sure if part of the thrill he'd felt holding Zoe close, but not as close as Madison was now, as they'd danced was because of what he knew of her cursed sexuality or what he suspected about her other nascent gifts. The specific answer wasn't important, much as it didn't really matter whether or not Madison's obvious pleasure in how well her dance floor seduction seemed to be going was from an actual genuine attraction and desire for the girl whose neck she was nuzzling or whether she was simply relishing life as the omnivore he believed her to be. Melly did feel certain that her greatest desire was for neither women nor men but was instead a naked lust for power over as many of both as possible.

If she could gather more of it for herself by channeling her own particular powers of attraction, then she would enjoy it to the fullest, something the two of them definitely had in common. Ruthlessness such as he and Madison shared could also be a weakness because it could lead to tunnel vision, not to mention the kind of pride that went before a fall, sometimes from underestimating one's opponents, a failing he wasn't sure Madison was capable of avoiding, not yet anyway. Painful experience was a fine tutor though, and he was looking forward to playing his part in the process, to the hilt in fact, and the double entendre was intentional.

As for Madison, she clearly had no problem plying Zoe with alcohol to soften her up, and he'd done his best there too, not that Madison had made it easy.

 _"_ _What is this shit?"_

 _She held her shot glass up to just above eye level intending to glean a little more light in which to scrutinize its contents._

 _"_ _It's Black Death."_

 _Zoe in turn looked skeptical._

 _"_ _It's more reddish than black. What's in it?"_

 _Madison then veered in the other direction like the loose cannon she was._

 _"_ _Dark red blood-colored. Wicked..."_

 _She tossed back the shot._

 _"…_ _but a little sweet, with a nice kick. I like it."_

 _Zoe wasn't convinced._

 _"_ _You would. So, what's in it then?"_

 _"_ _Blackcurrant liqueur, also known as crème de cassis, is the dark red part, and the kick is 150 proof vodka."_

 _"_ _Black Death is a messed-up name, but other than that, it sounds okay."_

 _Zoe appeared to be considering starting off with a sip, but Madison quashed that idea in her usual tactful way._

 _"_ _Don't be such a candy ass. Kill it."_

 _Zoe shot Madison a look that was equal in voltage to the beverage in question but then poured it down her throat without further comment, and he drained his own glass._

 _"_ _Another one, ladies?"_

 _He was looking at Zoe._

 _"_ _Whatever. Why not?"_

 _Before downing the next round, they clinked glasses._

 _"_ _There's an apocryphal tale about the origin of the liqueur. Story goes that some monks invented it, for medicinal purposes…"_

 _Just as Madison began to swallow, Melly casually dropped the punchline._

 _"…_ _as an antidote to snake bite."_

 _It was profoundly satisfying when the sassy witch spluttered and choked a little before surrendering to mildly-tipsy giggles, the joke itself one that he'd intended to that purpose even if only the two of them at the table were in on it. It was a subtle way of reminding her that they were supposedly on the same side, not that he was sure she got that part. Zoe's response was blunt and to the point._

 _"_ _You sure know some weird shit."_

 _"_ _That I do. That I do."_

 _Madison piped up._

 _"_ _See, I told you Melly wasn't just some drooling guy in a bar trying to get laid."_

 _"_ _You did at that."_

 _"_ _I'm not sure if those are compliments or not, but I'll pretend they are."_

 _"_ _Suit yourself._ "

The half-smile Zoe included with the retort took out some of the sting, and he'd continued to watch her as her head began to sway a little when the band returned from a break and resumed playing with a bluesy number, the smoky-voiced singer beginning to croon and sigh in contrast to the more up-tempo style of their earlier set, one that Madison and Zoe had danced to vigorously and with all the infectious joie de vivre of the kind of youth that can't conceive of mortality lurking in the shadows, maybe because they knew something about it that regular, so-called "normal" people didn't. He seized the newly-unguarded moment and asked her to dance.

She'd been just beginning to feel the effects of the alcohol she'd consumed, but she was still focused enough to be delightfully tart and thus entertaining. Her slender body next to his own was soft and warm but also nearly crackled with the undercurrents of unacknowledged force and intensity, and for one like himself who could sense it, it was indeed like sheathed electric current, and he knew full well that it could and would strike lightning quick and just as deadly. The only question was how long it would continue as it had up to now. From Madison's descriptions, Zoe had so far mostly acted on instinct, which had its own element of danger from her not yet having learned to take hold of the control switch. Good thing then that he found danger both fun and useful, especially when he was holding cards the other players didn't even know existed.

" _Did anybody ever tell you that you look like a Leonardo?"_

 _"_ _DiCaprio or da Vinci?"_

 _He laughed._

 _"_ _Touché. But I'm not joking or trying to get in your pants, I promise."_

 _He laughed harder on the inside when she momentarily went rigid in his arms. The singer dropped his voice to a whisper, and Melly took the cue and placed his own mouth close to Zoe's ear, first tucking a strand of her hair behind it to bare the opening to his breath._

 _"_ _It's mostly your eyes, although your features are fine and delicate as the Mona Lisa's too. It's the almond shape and the mystery, timeless and intoxicating, endlessly intriguing."_

 _Zoe shivered lightly, but her words betrayed nothing more._

 _"_ _Does that line usually work for you?"_

 _"_ _I swear, Zoe, it's not a line. You really do look like you strolled off the canvas, seriously."_

 _He could almost feel her eyes rolling in disbelief, but then the charm of the music and the night and the quite several Black Deaths and beers and bourbons seemed to gain ascendance because she let her head rest against his shoulder as her fingers probably-inadvertently brushed the hair at the nape of his neck. She breathed in slowly and audibly._

 _"_ _You smell…interesting."_

 _"_ _What?"_

 _"_ _Not bad-interesting. Good. Sweet, but there's something bitter underneath. I think it's your hair."_

 _He bit off a chuckle._

 _"_ _Oh that. It's probably hair dye from a few days ago. It lasts awhile even after you wash it."_

 _She looked up at him quizzically._

 _"_ _You dye your hair? Why?"_

 _"_ _Well, I needed to look different in case the cops come sniffing around, no pun intended. First guy whose car I stole to get here ended up a little dead."_

 _"_ _You are so full of shit."_

 _"_ _Maybe, but dead men tell no tales."_

 _Zoe looked sad._

 _"_ _Sometimes they really want to though, but the words get stuck."_

 _He decided he'd better play it a little cooler and not let on that he knew exactly who and what she meant by that seemingly cryptic remark that was as transparent to him as her eyes were gloriously opaque, every bit the neo-Renaissance wonder and mystery he'd told her they were._

 _"_ _Now who's full of shit?"_

 _"_ _Yeah, right. Let's just shut up and dance._ "

So, was it any surprise that he currently couldn't take his eyes off them as they shuffled on the dance floor, another slow number giving Madison the opportunity she'd waited for to begin by pulling Zoe closer and to lazily loop her forearms over the other girl's shoulders, only gradually tightening the embrace and graduating to the use of seemingly-careless touches to draw her in, to call up the thwarted desire she knew was there just under Zoe's skin, the girl full to bursting, and thus ripe for that desire to be turned in what might seem a safer direction.

When, at long last, Madison claimed her mouth in a kiss, right out on the dance floor for all the world to see, maybe even losing herself for a moment in the sensation and not just performing for the crowd and the more particular audience of one that he knew himself to be, because such a one as she would never miss the chance to try and impress him with what she could do with just the aid of a little or a lot of alcohol, depending on who was doing the measuring, without even resorting yet to the dark magic they'd previously arranged as their true goal for the evening. For Madison as well as for him, that other plan took precedence, but it was still important to live in the moment, and life wanted to express itself through his body as much as it did theirs.

So, even as he appeared to be sitting silently at their table, taking in the show on the dance floor with the interested but slightly-jaded eye of one who was no stranger to the delights of the flesh that New Orleans, arguably chief among the other cities in this so-called New World continent that was actually every bit as old as every other Sodom and Gomorrah on the face of the earth, could provide, so many people taking the excuse of somehow being under the sway of geography and history when it suited them, he let his blood flow through him as it would, just as Madison and Zoe were doing. He imagined the wetness between their thighs and the heightened sensitivity at every pore, and his cock swelled and hardened right along with their growing arousal. The show was only just beginning though, and he had no intention of missing a second.

* * *

Madison knew he was watching, and she didn't care. Why would she? That had been her job for as long as she could remember, playing pretend while other people watched. This was no different, except maybe more fun. So, let Melly hide in the shadows. Now, it was time to wake up the other audience member who was soon to join in the performance, the sooner the better because, much as she relished the idea of having Zoe, she especially wanted Kyle's cock and him attached to it. She liked cock, liked riding it, liked having it pump inside her, and her recent experience at the frat. party hadn't changed that, well, not tonight anyway, seeing as how she was going to be the one calling all the shots this time, and that lovesick Kyle wasn't going to be able to resist when he caught on, and, no matter how scrambled the eggs in his head were, he'd catch on: the only way he was having Zoe was by having her and having her first. She was taking _that_ cherry for herself, damn straight she was.

"What are we doing in here, Madison?"

Zoe was slurring her words a little, and her eyes were crazy bright, despite the fact that the pupils were blown wide open. Maybe it was the near-darkness, maybe not. Madison felt pretty amped herself, barely noticing the ache from the bandaged spot on her right butt cheek. It would all be worth it though. She repressed the urge to laugh and focused on the moment at hand.

"Take it easy. Come over here closer to me."

Zoe took a step, but then hesitated.

"What about Kyle?"

"What about him? He'll want to play too. We'll figure it out."

"I don't want to hurt him any more than we already have."

Madison was feeling expansive and yet needy, so she got a little pouty.

"Come on over and kiss me. I miss you already."

To speed things along, she closed the distance between them and pressed her mouth onto Zoe's, gentle at first, but then going deeper and working her tongue into the kiss as she took a few steps backward, pulling Zoe with her, over to where Kyle was asleep in his nest of blankets on the floor. She ran one hand up Zoe's ribcage and pressed the heel of her hand into the girl's breast at the nipple, massaging it in circles as her tongue rotated with Zoe's too, the symmetry of the motions creating a similar image in her head of an endless spiral of pleasure, except the one in her head kept on changing colors, which was a little strange but very pretty.

Everything was turned up a notch or three past normal somehow, and that included her hearing. Zoe began to moan softly and slid her fingers under Madison's hair, kissing her back harder. Madison delicately prodded at the matching bandage on Zoe's upper arm just below the shoulder to elicit a little more volume with the sharp-but-sweet stab of pain she knew would result. Just then, her heightened auditory sense caught the faintest jingling, metallic and yet almost-crystalline in tone. So, the sound of his mistress's voice, all hot and bothered, had awakened him just as Madison knew it would, rattled his chains a little, which was the whole idea.

She turned the two of them so that Zoe had her back to him but so she could see Kyle over the other witch's willowy shoulder as she lifted Zoe's hair up off her neck in a sweeping motion and tongued slowly down the side of her throat, organ extended and tip hard, all the while watching Kyle's reaction. He was sitting up staring silently at them in the dimness, his lips parted. Madison almost thought she could feel their soft fullness on her skin just from thinking about it. She blinked a few times, " _Can't let the booze distract me, but, shit, I feel good_." Closing her eyes, she planted another one on Zoe's mouth instead, her hands finding their way down to cup her ass and pull her closer. The chains clanked a bit louder as at last he spoke.

"Zooee."

The girl broke off their kiss and turned to him.

"Kyle. We woke you up."

Madison smirked. Zoe must be starting to feel the spell now to have said something so simple-mindedly obvious as if it were some kind of surprise. Maybe that poke in the arm a moment ago had accelerated the effect of whatever-the-hell mystical toxin Melly had arranged for.

"I just bet we did. Go on, now. Go over and see him. Don't be afraid. I'll come with you."

Kyle raised both arms and reached for Zoe, his black eyes unreadable in the darkness, but Madison thought she understood well enough all the same. Whatever Zoe saw there seemed to break her last thread of restraint, at least for the moment, and she rushed over and flung herself into his embrace, the chains rattling obscenely as he closed his arms around her. Madison strolled over casually, careful not to miss the moment when their lips met for the first time. First, Zoe whispered so low she shouldn't have been able to hear it, but she could.

"Kyle, I see you. You're so beautiful, like a perfect marble statue come to life, come back to life, I mean. It's like there's a rainbow of white light coming from you. I see it as white, but the colors are there for a second like when a soap bubble reflects in the sun. I don't even know what I'm saying."

He made a sound in his throat like his breath was some starved and strangled creature fighting and straining up from his deepest soul, if he even still had one, just to stay alive, and then he kissed Zoe with a ferocity that made _her_ breath catch, so she could only imagine what it must feel like to Zoe. Maybe he would never kiss her quite the same way, but she was going to have him soon enough, right where she wanted him, so that didn't really matter much to her, which was oddly disappointing somehow.

Sinking down to the floor beside them, she tested the waters by caressing his nearest arm gently. When he didn't cringe, she continued down it to where his hand was resting on Zoe's back and urged the hand back carefully, never causing it to lose contact with the girl in his arms, but gradually aiming it around to the other side of her body until he closed his fingers around her delicately-sculpted breast completely on his own without further prodding from Madison.

As he began to work the nipple between his fingers, both he and Zoe groaned softly in unison. It was all pretty damn hot and going perfectly.

"Kyle, Zoe and I both want to make you feel good, but she's a little scared about something, so we're going to do it all together, okay? To make sure nobody gets hurt by the things about her that are special. You do know Zoe's special, don't you, Kyle?"

He tore his eyes away from Zoe's but didn't stop touching her. He was clearly very excited, but still wary, in a skittish-doggie-who-doesn't-want-to-get-zapped-by-the-invisible-fence kind of way, but he had heard and apparently understood to some degree or other.

"Special."

Zoe found her voice again.

"She's right, Kyle. This will sound pretty crazy, but we're both special, Madison and I are. That's how you're here now after the accident on the bus killed you. You being on the bus when you didn't do anything bad is the accident. The crazy part is the name for what we are: we're witches, and it's because we inherited it from other women earlier in our families going back a long, long time. You already know we can do other things, like how we can make you go to sleep those times you were so scared, to keep all of us from getting in trouble, but not everything is good or easy to control. We're both still learning, so we have to be very careful, okay?"

"Okay, Zoe. Trust you."

"You can trust Madison too."

Kyle cut her a sideways glance that said he didn't necessarily agree but, if it meant getting what he wanted more than anything in the world, then he'd pretend he did, which was just fine by her. Unlike his darling here, she didn't give a shit about his trust. She just needed him to play along until the spell Melly had promised her really kicked in, kicked in hard enough to kick Zoe's ass. All that crap about marble statues and rainbows was a good sign that it was already starting.

With any luck it would end up scaring Kyle so much to see Zoe lose her shit that he wouldn't want her any more, but that would just be a bonus. Zoe needed to doubt her sanity and her powers, and that would clear the way for Madison to fulfill her destiny of becoming the next Supreme, and well, of course, she hadn't been able to hold out from letting Melly in on that secret too seeing as how he wouldn't agree to come through with the goods to bring the ideas he'd sketched out that first night to fruition until she did, fucking cunt-tease. Madison supposed it had actually been best to tell him everything in case any lie of omission had been just the thing he'd have needed to know to make it all work, enlightened self-interest was what that was called, actually.

"Just follow along with us, Kyle, and we'll all have a really good time. I'm here to make sure things go okay, and Zoe wants you to enjoy everything, enjoy both of us, understand?"

His eyes flew back to Zoe's for confirmation.

"Yes, Kyle. Madison just wants all of us to be happy, so this time we'll all be together because together we can fix anything that gets out of control like we did before when we brought you back. The unpredictable part is from me, from part of what I inherited as a witch, but we won't let it hurt you. Do you think you can trust that? Do you want to?"

Maybe he would prefer it be just the two of them; Madison couldn't tell for sure, but he was still a guy, and having her along for the literal ride with Zoe's blessing was a hardship he'd find a way to endure; she was sure of that much. Kyle looked from one to the other, his eyes almost as pupil-shot as the two of theirs, and nodded.

"Yes."

His consent obtained, she placed her hand on his knee and worked it back up his thigh to his hip and then over, fingers expanding wide as she felt for him. Yep, hardship was definitely the right word because his dick was rigid and pressing against him. He jerked involuntarily at her touch, but only a tiny bit this time, so she undid the metal button of his jeans.

"Show him a little something, Zoe. He wants to see."

Zoe pulled her shirt over her head and took it off, revealing a reasonably-tasty stretch lace bra. Her tits were small, but the shape was very nice, and her nips might as well be two eyeballs considering how Kyle was staring at them.

"Good start."

Madison almost felt like the director on a porn shoot, but she hoped that Zoe would soon be so into getting with Kyle that everything else would fall into place. As Zoe undid the bra, she countered by sliding off her own panties, the tiny thong falling soundless to the floor as she undid the zipper of Kyle's jeans and reached inside. Now she had all of their full attention at her fingertips, and Zoe leaned in closer to see better while Kyle's hips jerked up at her.

God, it was gorgeous, thick and substantial. It had length and heft, shifting of its own accord in her hand, the swollen head oozing pre-cum that trickled between her fingers luxuriantly as she held him loosely, teasing a little, maybe taking out a bit of her frustration at Melly by making another of his gender wait for what he wanted possibly as much as she wanted to beat the lot of them and claim her ultimate prize. Right now though, there was a banquet laid out on the floor that was literally within her reach, and she was going to feast her fill.

"Get him naked, Zoe, so we can feel him, so he can feel us."

Kyle's breath was visible as Zoe bared his torso, quick panting jolts of air flexing the muscles of his abdomen, his belly taut. Madison helped with the jeans and his underwear, and then he was completely naked before them, all but the chains, and those were staying on. He was too distracted to notice yet anyway. The scars marring his flesh were strangely beautiful almost as if, now reborn, he was so full of life it was near to bursting out at those seams.

"Touch and kiss."

Well, Kyle certainly had the right idea, but she doubted he meant for her to pull Zoe into a kiss first, one hand now lightly squeezing Kyle's cock as she stuck the other down the front of Zoe's panties and slid a finger between her folds. Zoe let her mouth go slack for a moment as Madison began to finger her clit, spreading wetness over the sensitive spot. Kyle leaned closer and consoled himself by filling his mouth with one of Zoe's breasts, then focusing on the tip, sucking gently at first but then growing more agitated, unable to resist using his teeth a little, but not so sharply that the girl writhing on Madison's fingers would emit more than a gasp of startled enjoyment.

It did seem to awaken her to other possibilities though, and now it was Zoe's turn to do a little directing.

"Madison's cheating. She's the only one mostly dressed. You should do something about that, Kyle."

He cast a questioning look between them, but then did what he was told, unbuttoning Madison's blouse while grudgingly murmuring under his breath and probably thinking she wouldn't be able to hear, but she could.

"Pretty. Still mean one."

She'd shut up his bitching. She proceeded to plunge a finger inside Zoe to elicit a louder moan, and just when Kyle turned to see what had happened, his mouth open in anticipation, Madison stole a kiss. To her surprise, he kissed her back and growled in his throat, a striking contrast to the shape and texture of his lips, tender and lush as a girl's. Must be the waiting. He grabbed her breasts and stuck his tongue deeper into her mouth. Her eyes closed of their own volition, and it happened again, the symmetrical swirling vision thing, except this time there were two, one thrusting like her finger inside Zoe's wet little pussy and one corkscrewing and twining like Kyle's tongue, both images morphing into narrower forms, breaking out in geometric patterns like the diamond shapes on the back of a— " _No, it couldn't be_." Madison's eyes flew open.

Kyle finished the kiss and looked directly at her, his eyes glinting hard and lustful, no warmth, all cold-blooded greed. It was like looking in a mirror, if it was a mirror capable of peeling off the more humane façade she donned for special occasions, such as seduction combined with heartless betrayal.

"Finger both."

So, he was finally asserting himself. Well, Madison could identify with that sentiment, and it was about time she got some more of the action, which she was about to if she was interpreting the Kyle-speak correctly. She turned to Zoe.

"How about it? If we're asking the guy to let us share him, the least we can do is return the favor."

"Okay, so...how do we...?"

"It's not like I'm some expert on three-ways here, but I have a general idea. The main thing is to get where he can reach."

Madison positioned herself on her back on the floor to Kyle's right side, knees bent but pressed together. Zoe assumed the same posture just to his left.

"Want see."

Well, that was easy enough to understand, so Madison let her knees fall open.

"Zoe too."

Zoe followed suit. Kyle tucked his feet under and pressed his own knees into the floor, rising up on them, apparently to get a vantage point from above. It was like she could feel the path his eyes took, looking from one exposed cunt to the other and back again.

"Touch now."

It was a whisper, low and hoarse in his throat, and thus anything but sweet. Keeping his eyes trained on Zoe's, Kyle placed the four finger-tips of each hand over each of their pubic bones before sliding them lightly downwards, then brushing back up in the other direction, delicately stroking into and up through the channel between their heated pink flesh, gathering wetness and releasing a waft of female sex scent into the air of the little greenhouse, itself a microcosm of the sacred feminine, a refuge for seeking solace at its true source: from nature as represented by the potent and exotic plants and flowers that Cordelia cultivated here for their healing power and other magicks, and what could be more natural than giving yourself over to the force and power of the sex drive itself, font of life that it was, but, more prominent to Madison at the moment was how good it felt to have Kyle's fingers press in a little harder, seeking out both hooded buds for more attention, stroking in circles and then fucking into both girls with his thumbs, building to faster and deeper thrusts, his grunts a lower echo of their sounds, the scented air growing fraught with the tension building and building as both girls' longing for release ascended up and up and up.

In her peripheral vision Madison could see that Zoe was rocking into Kyle's touches, riding his thumb as it plunged in over and over again, just as she was doing herself, her hips rising off the floor as she ached for more. Glancing down, she eyed his dick rock-hard and pressing into his belly as if trying to disembowel him. A powerful wash of overwhelming sensation broke over her. She would have sworn that she could hear and smell the blood racing through her veins, hers and theirs too, could hear the thrumming heartbeat tide of it whirling in and out and back and forth, awash in the mingled pool of aromas, a pungent stew of blood-iron and pussy and the masculine tang of Kyle's cock, itself aching to pour forth an ocean of cum, replete with multitudes of sperm; she even thought she could see them, swirling in the darkness, frantic to swim upstream and find an ova to assault and penetrate, but what if there were no sperm? Could zombie-boy even make them any more? Jesus, her head was full of crazy shit, so she latched onto a central concept, the one that called to her the loudest over the din in her brain.

"Need to fuck now."

Kyle darted a startled glance at her that finally lingered, his tongue pressing against his teeth, another iteration of the caged animal they'd made of him.

"Fuck now. Eat Zoe."

Well, the freak-Adonis had hit on the perfect solution. She would get what she'd wanted all along, and Zoe must be so cum-starved by now that she'd seize on the idea because it would also postpone the trial that she feared the most, the terror that her curse would affect Kyle as it had the two others who'd stuck their little heads in her gingerbread oven, one a terrible unintentional fate perpetrated from ignorance and the other a deliberate murder to avenge Madison's honor, or some such shit, even if she was also sure that part of it was Zoe wreaking punishment on Archie for the worse sin of making it through Madison's own act of vengeance, of his evil surviving where Kyle's innocence had perished, and maybe Kyle had been innocent then, but that ship had sailed, so there was no point dwelling on it.

It was actually all pretty fucking Biblical, no lie, and she had no problem respecting the hell out of Zoe for doing it, although it deterred her not one iota from her plan to take her rightful place as Supreme even if it was at Zoe's expense. The Bible was full of worthy opponents going at it, fights to the death even, plenty of them, and this was no different as she chose to see the situation.

She reached over and took Zoe by the hand and pulled her into a sitting position. Their eyes met, and the other's eyes were glassy and hot.

"Let's do this."

"Yes, let's."

They turned to Kyle who was gaping at them in barely-restrained anticipation. Madison planted her hand in the middle of his chest.

"Okay, big fella. Ease on down, so I can get on board and Zoe here can sit on your face. Sound good?"

"Okay, no, _good_."

"Sheer poetry there, Madison."

Zoe's tone dripped sarcasm, but it didn't seem to be stopping her from positioning her other dripping wet parts over Kyle's open mouth. Since the other girl's back would be to her, Madison would be left all alone with Kyle's lower half, and she didn't care one bit. She didn't want to make lovey-dovey eyes anyway. Leave that to the other two. Simultaneously, she straddled him and reached for what she'd been aching for. Priming it with a few pumps of her hand earned her a powerful upward thrust of his hips and a muffled groan as his tongue worked in Zoe's pussy, her little yip a sign that he'd also taken a stronger taste as he'd reacted to Madison's grip.

She raked the head roughly around the soaked entrance of her cunt, lubing him up so the sheer size wouldn't prevent a pleasurable descent. Before she'd known she was a witch, Madison was all about the safety first, especially since most of the guys she'd been with were Hollywood he-ho's, but now she felt sure that death and dismemberment would have also killed anything she would normally have worried about, and, if it hadn't, then there must be a spell to do the trick. She'd never trusted anybody enough to go bareback, so this was going to bust her cherry for that just like she was busting reanimated Kyle's. It was a win-win.

Zoe was keening and babbling incoherently about some visions of sugar plums or some shit dancing in her head. She was going to blow any second, and Madison would have a front row seat. Rising up, she grasped a little tighter and pulled Kyle's cock into position: " _Mother-fucking finally_ ," and she rode him down slowly, feeling herself fill and stretch around him. Kyle bucked up frantically, almost dislodging her from her perch, but this wasn't her first rodeo, and she held on. As she began to move, Zoe's keening grew louder, and Kyle strove to finish her off, his lower half also finding a rhythm with Madison's strokes. Skin to skin, wet and hot and full of cock, it felt amazing.

And, at last, Zoe was completely losing her mind, which only enhanced her own pleasure. Then, Zoe began to speak in a chanting sort of rhythm that got into Madison's head and somehow forced her to alter the pace she'd set for fucking Kyle, compelling her to match instead the rolling cadence of the other's voice. That must be _some_ fucking spell Melly had cast, and with a bolt of stark and vivid clarity Madison realized at last that it was the real truth. Melly hadn't just provided the potion and used her money to pay the tattoo artist to spike his ink with it before the artist drew the pentagram on Zoe's arm: it was _all_ Melly's spell, and it was so potent that it was evoking Zoe's powers too.

"The snake bites its tail and makes the sacred circle. As it was in the beginning, so shall it ever be. World without end. Land and sea, Salt and ocean. We are the ouroboros…"

Kyle had gone still even as Madison continued to ride him. She tried to push away the image growing in her mind from down below, but it wouldn't be denied. It was both a part of and separate from what Zoe was saying. They were the circle; Zoe and Kyle were, and she was alone outside, but not alone. Something was coming, dark and red and up from inside her where Kyle's cock was stabbing at it, stabs of burning pleasure that were building to her climax, but the coming thing was separate from them, separate from Zoe and Kyle, a wave of red like fire was coming for her, ready to engulf her.

"…Drown in me, and go under, over and under in the circle. Your power is mine and ours. Live and die and live in me forever. The long snake moans."

Zoe was grinding against Kyle's mouth, the chanting apparently done, and she began to wail out as she came, Kyle thrashing, and Madison pumping up and down even as the red wave began to coalesce out of formlessness. Madison didn't want to see. She wanted to come, so she tried to squeeze her mind's eyes shut even as her cunt squeezed down on Kyle's cock. She was getting there….just a few more strokes, and…holy fuck, she was coming, spasms so strong they almost hurt, but the red coming thing was here now too, and it had scales and breathed fire, and it's eyes were smoldering embers. She couldn't hear Zoe any more or feel Kyle inside her. In his place was fire and flame and Melly laughing and laughing as she screamed out loud, demon laughter reverberating in her head, and then everything went black.

* * *

Zoe opened her eyes and blinked. Something warm was nestled against her, something that ran the length of her entire body. It was Kyle, and he was sleeping peacefully. On the other side of the room, Madison's bed was empty. She remembered now. Kyle had carried Madison up here, and they'd sat by her until she came around again, Zoe pressing cold compresses to her forehead and consoling Kyle who thought he'd hurt her from having sex with her. If anybody knew how he felt, Zoe did. The shadows on the wall and the dimming light meant it was almost night-time again. Where the hell could Madison be? Well, she must be okay at any rate if she'd managed to get up, dress, and go out.

Despite how freaked out she'd been right before she passed out or whatever had happened, Madison hadn't wanted to say much, and things were a little blurry in her own head too. She remembered most of what they'd done, but there were blank spots here and there. Mostly, she was tired and happy and content. It didn't matter to her if she ever had regular-style sex with Kyle or not because she could go down on him the way he'd done for her, a roaring success if she remembered rightly, but then some of that was in the slightly blurry zone.

She remembered hallucinating something to do with the alchemy symbol of a snake biting its own tale, an ouroboros it was called, and it had a long history and connection to all kinds of magic and mysticism and even philosophy and psychology, not just alchemy. She'd seen it in some of the spell books around the school, ones that belonged to Cordelia that had to do with sacred goddesses and the mysteries of fertility and life and death, which was heavy shit, but mostly good and positive. What had caused the hallucinating itself was equally unclear, but then she imagined that reading about spells and symbols and being a witch just beginning to get used to her powers and then pouring on a generous dose of alcohol was a pretty good recipe for going a little wonky.

She hoped the other symbol, the one she'd had actually tattooed on her body worked too. The upright pentagram fit in with all that female power stuff too from its association with the cycle of life and nature. The circle around the star made it a sigil of protection as each of the five points made contact with it, a sign of the connection of sprit, earth, air, water, and fire to the circle of life. Zoe blushed as she recalled that she might well have babbled on about some of this stuff during the sex, pretty awkward, but then again it probably wouldn't hurt anything. Sex magic was said to be pretty powerful stuff and was right in line with the nature and life force connection contained in the pentagram. Maybe it would even enhance the protective aspect of the sigil. Anyway, it couldn't hurt.

Meanwhile, what to do with Kyle? Maybe he'd stay up here quietly in their room without any restraints needed, but maybe not. She began to stroke his hair. Best to let him sleep a little while longer, then, if he agreed to go out to the greenhouse again and accepted the restraints just at night, in a few days she'd try making the move up here a continuous thing while they worked on getting his language and ability to speak back. Then, he'd be ready to live wherever he wanted, and maybe it wouldn't be in a house full of witches.

* * *

"What the fuck did you do to me?"

Madison was furious, and Melly sitting there grinning at her calm as shit was making it much worse.

"Of course, we can discuss it, but are you going to make a scene? Lurene wouldn't like that, and I like Lurene and Lurene's place here, so I'd rather you didn't."

"I don't know yet. It depends on what you say."

"Let's take it down the hall then, Madison. Come with me."

She watched him stand up and head down the short hallway leading to the restrooms and followed him into the Men's one, seething silently.

"So? Answer me."

"What do you want, Madison?"

Answering a question with a question was an aggravating-as-piss lawyer and therapist trick, and he was neither, so she wasn't about to put up with it.

"I want to know what you did to me, you arrogant dick. I just asked you half a minute ago. Did you already forget, or is your brain just fried from meth. or coke or whatever you do that makes your eyes always glitter like that?"

"You misunderstand me. I'm asking you what you want for yourself, for your life, but to show I can be a good sport and play fair sometimes, I'll answer your first question, but you're not going to like it—"

He was pure infuriation.

"Of course I won't. You were supposed to give that tattoo guy something to put in Zoe's tattoo ink, so she'd go all nutso in front of Kyle to pay him back for dissing me after it was my idea and half my power that brought him back to life—'

"Leaving aside the part where you were the one who killed him in the first place. Okay, continue."

"Besides, I already told you. I want to be the Supreme of our coven, and I figure Zoe is my main competition, so I wanted her too afraid to even try to fight me for it. Instead, she's all chanting like the high priestess of Granola-topia, and I'm seeing dragons and fire and losing my shit in front of them instead."

"Why do you want to be the Supreme?"

"What? That's a stupid question. I'm a witch, so I want to be the one that's the most powerful, the one that can have whatever I want."

"Don't you think it'd be better to sign up with the winning side then?"

"What are you talking about?"

Melly came in close and put his finger under her chin, draping his other arm loosely around her hip.

"Don't you like me, Madison?"

"Stop asking me questions when you haven't even answered my first one yet."

"You know what they say about consistency and tiny minds and hobgoblins, don't you?"

Madison glared.

"Okay, okay. I dosed Zoe's last drink here at the bar with a micro-dose candy flip, just a little baby one—"

"What's a—"

"Don't even _try_ to pretend you don't know what that means. I know all about you, Madison, and I didn't get my info. from the tabloids. I dropped in just a little X for the euphoria and _lov_ e to help you get her in the mood and just a little drop of acid, and, 'flip', she thinks she's the merry queen of the fucking fairies, except she sort of is..."

He kissed her mouth lightly, maybe to stop her next interruption.

"…So, I ask you again, why be a Supreme when you can be Diana mother-fucking Ross?"

"And you're Berry Gordy, I guess?"

She smirked at his surprised face.

"Hello? _Dreamgirls_ sound familiar? And maybe the internet?"

"People do that a lot, don't they?"

"Do what?"

"Underestimate you, and I never will. I like you just the way you are…"

Melly turned her around to admire herself in the mirror.

"…You're totally hot, but then you know that."

She boldly met his eyes in their shared reflection.

"Naturally. What else?"

Melly began kissing her neck from behind and dropped his voice to a whisper, punctuating each adjective with another kiss.

"You're everything I want in a woman: resentful, jealous, spiteful, vengeful, and….."

Here he paused and stuck his hand under her dress, hesitating for a fraught moment before suddenly ripping the bandage off the new tattoo on her ass, the adhesive giving way with a sharp sting to her still-healing flesh.

"…simply starving for retribution."

"That hurt."

Their eyes met in the mirror again as he traced a finger around the outline of the design on her still-hidden skin, barely grazing the sorest spots and focusing on the areas that were only mildly painful.

"Want me to kiss it and make it all better?"

"Yes. But first, I get you like being all Melly-man-of-mystery and shit, but there's something I don't get."

"And that would be?"

"First off, so you dosed Zoe a little. Fine, whatever, but is that what you did to me? I've trolled a few times, and I never felt like that, never saw that kind of scary shit before. Did you dose me higher, you sick bastard?"

Just as on the night they met, if you only read a transcript of their conversation you'd think they were going to throw down and have a serious fight, but Madison was a gamer, and Melly was too, and she liked it, liked it a lot.

"Honestly, no."

He cupped one of her breasts from behind with his free hand, the other still working the fringes of the trio of freshly-inked roses under her dress. It sounded cornball and cliché except that she'd chosen a design that was like the floral version of Gothic lettering, the line shadings varied heavy to light with swirls and whorls, an off-center grouping with delicate off-angled stems, black outlines colored in with cobalt blue, not some girly red or pink. It had reminded her of the illustrations in some of the magic books she'd seen at school, dark and ancient and dangerous, not some random tramp stamp.

"What then?"

"Would it scare you to know that it was all me? Better living _without_ chemistry, except the kind we have without any drugs at all."

"Ha! I knew it. What are you? Are you a boy witch?"

"You mean a warlock—"

"Yeah."

"Nope."

Melly took a playful nip at the side of her throat.

"Oh, God. Please tell me you're not a fucking vampire. That's so tired."

"Nah, just messin' with ya. I can't help myself. It's so much fun."

He shifted his hands and took hold of her hips, pulling them against him and grinding against her ass. She could feel his hardness pressed to her bare skin, the fabric of his clothing the only barrier between them because he'd pushed her dress up before he crushed their bodies together.

"You're so strong, Madison, and I already said why you're perfect for me, but this may sting a little."

"Jesus Christ. You don't even listen to me, do you?"

"Yes, I do…."

He was looking down at the tattoo now and smiling what could only be termed an evil smile.

"…There's just one more thing I have to tell you first, so you'll understand everything, and I know you can take it."

He rutted against her, all the while gazing at the roses.

"What, for fuck's sake?"

"Zoe is going to be the next Supreme."

Madison felt a twinge that featured pretty much all the feelings he'd used earlier to describe what he liked about her.

"Oh."

"And just like that your eyes go as hard as my cock. Gorgeous."

Melly shifted their positions suddenly again, turning her to face him. His eyes were fairly sparking with malice, but for some reason she knew it wasn't meant _for_ her, that instead it was a visible sign of their shared sentiment.

"Yes, Zoe has power, but so do I. So do _we_ even. I just need you to say you'll share yours with me, submit to me because you want to. It's the only way we can be together, and, if you want to beat her, beat all of them, you can only do it with me."

"What _are_ you, Melly?"

"I was with you last night, the whole time, waiting in the dark because I like to watch, but you saw me. You just didn't recognize me."

He lifted her skirt up over her ass again, this time reaching down with his other hand and jamming a couple of fingers inside her, straight in, hard and deep, with no pleasantries. It didn't hurt because she was already dripping.

"I know I'm a tease, but I won't make you wait any more..."

He fucked his fingers in and out, and it sounded all wet and nasty and felt amazing.

"…You saw one of my faces last night. If you say yes, you can see it again. Say yes, Madison."

She didn't hesitate.

"Yes."

"Okay, then. Check out what I did to your tatt. I marked you as mine."

As she turned her head over her shoulder, she must have momentarily cut off the blood flow in her neck or something because a wave of dizziness hit her, and her vision went cloudy. When it cleared again, she zeroed in on the reflection of the roses in the mirror. At first, she just thought it all looked pretty good for fresh ink, that the artist had done a good job. Then she saw it. For just a second or two the roses shifted, or maybe it was more that her perception of them did, like one of those optical illusion pictures that changed as you stared at it. The three roses were still there, but there was another pattern emerging within their lines, one in each rose, and each one was a numeral six.

"Holy shit."

Madison's eyes flew to Melly's in the mirror, and his glowed ember-red like the creature that had gotten into her head the night before.

"Look at me."

Madison turned to face him, and his eyes had changed back to normal, or as normal as they ever had been in the first place because they still glowed at her like she now realized they always had, only the color was back to their normal blue.

"You're him, the one that's supposed to come and bring the end of the world."

"That's me, but I'm in no hurry. Well, I am, but not for that. I've wanted to fuck you since I laid eyes on you, but, after last night, I can't wait another second. How about you?"

Madison smiled.

"Bring it."

"You like to watch too. Turn around and bend over."

She obeyed. She even wiggled her ass at him. Melly slapped her there hard, open-handed and right over the place he'd set his mark on her. Then, he had his cock out and pushed it in. Madison did love watching herself get fucked, so she fearlessly met Melly's eyes in the mirror as he accelerated the pace of his thrusts, their bodies slapping together obscenely, little grunts of air forced out of her mouth as she held on for dear life to the edge of the sink, palms pressed into the porcelain. She shook her head slightly.

"Fucking in the men's room of a club like a couple of ho's."

Melly grinned.

"My beautiful monster."

Madison didn't reply right away because she'd rather focus on the head of his cock hitting the spot deep inside her over and over that drove her crazy. It was that perfect mix of pleasure and pain, a flash of the latter on each stroke that was like his body pushing her down the path to the place where her ultimate release awaited, but a little something extra might amp it up even more, so she deliberately provoked him.

"Look who's talking."

He grabbed a handful of her hair and jerked it roughly, pulling her head up, so she'd be sure to look at him in the mirror.

"Is that supposed to hurt my feelings?"

Melly laughed and kept on pumping her.

"Maybe."

"Hot little _bitch_."

He hit the last word hard and accentuated it with another ass-slap and kept thrusting, throwing slaps in randomly so she couldn't anticipate when another one was coming. It was exactly what she'd wanted to push her over the edge, and Melly's leer in the mirror said he knew it too. She cried out as the spasms hit, her cunt clenching around his cock and then the pulsating undulations following after hard and fast, but this time there was no dragon or whatever the fuck it was she'd seen last night, just Melly pausing in his motions to ram himself as deep inside her as he could while she came.

When she sucked in a deep breath, he got going again, fingers clamped to her hips and sure to leave finger-shaped bruises, fucking into her like she was the door to his last hope of salvation, and his dick was the key to opening it. Then, with a roar that seemed to echo off all the hard surfaces in the room, ringing from every corner and direction, he went still, and she could feel his cum exploding inside her. Unbidden, two words popped into Madison's head: " _Demon seed_." And that set him off laughing again. He slapped her ass one last time and pulled out, roughly turning her around to face him yet again.

"This is only the beginning. I know you thought maybe you sold your soul to Hollywood, and it made you feel like shit, but now that it's mine, nobody will ever make you feel like that again. Make no mistake though, it _is_ mine, and I won't ever give it back."


	3. Chapter 3

The new routine had been going pretty smoothly. During the day Kyle stayed in their room, and Madison never tried to recreate the threesome from that night in the greenhouse, but she was evasive when asked where she'd gone the next evening and where she had been going almost every night since. Zoe suspected it had something to do with Melly, but she guessed it wasn't particularly any of her business, and she wasn't really one to pry into that sort of thing.

She didn't know why exactly, but she found herself putting a little more distance between herself and Kyle emotionally. He'd stopped trying to do more because she'd shut him down every time, but he still kissed her hard every morning when she went to fetch him from the greenhouse for their "lessons", which were progressing slowly but surely. When he got frustrated he broke things, which was a lesson she learned quickly enough so that she made sure there was nothing within easy reach that he could shatter against the wall. Instead, she'd stop talking at him and just rub circles into his back quietly until he settled down again.

Personal grooming was a hurdle they were still working on, a puzzle Zoe was having trouble sorting. Kyle didn't like having his hair combed or combing it himself, which wasn't a problem really because she loved the way it curled into perfect waves when left to air dry that she couldn't have gotten her own hair to emulate with every known product in the universe and an army of hairdressers wielding them. It was a bit of a problem that he absolutely refused to set foot in the shower in their bathroom. When she insisted that he had to bathe himself, he led her to the bathtub in the one down the hall, which was sort of okay because there was nobody using the bedroom next to it, except for the increased risk of his being seen that traipsing down the hallway created.

So, she sneaked him in there late at night when everybody else was asleep right before returning him to the greenhouse, standing guard in the hallway while he washed up and then tossing and turning the better part of the long, dark hours when she couldn't get to sleep herself because she couldn't get away from the image of his tragic black eyes staring, his gaze searing its way right through the wall of rationalizations chasing themselves around her head while he meekly submitted to the chains and sat down on the blankets on the floor to watch as she left him behind. Zoe knew she couldn't fool herself much longer that he needed to be chained up there for his own protection, which meant she was going to have to accept the answer to the obvious question of why she kept on doing it then, have to face that she was doing it now to protect herself.

Today Zoe was tired, exasperated even, because they seemed to have taken a few steps backwards in his progress. Kyle was agitated and wouldn't or couldn't focus, and he wouldn't let her touch him, just kept peering at her face with his brow furrowed. He was sitting in the middle of the floor now with his knees drawn up and his arms wrapped around them tightly, ankles crossed, and one foot was tapping at the floor like it was the pressure release valve that was keeping him from exploding into a rage of confusion over whatever it was that was vexing him so. She tried once more to soothe him, but he jerked away from her and muttered the first words he'd said all morning.

"Not pet monkey."

"Okay, Kyle. We don't have to work today. We can take a break."

Then, there were a couple of light taps on the bedroom door before it opened, and Nan's head peeped through.

"Can I come in?"

"Yeah, sure."

"Queenie and I are trying to watch _Beautiful Creatures_ , and she's pissed at me because I keep backing it up because I can't concentrate from how loud he's yelling."

Zoe's head snapped like a rubber band off the end of Nan's finger pointing over to Kyle twitching silently on the floor.

"That's Kyle. He's a friend of mine. Do you mean he's thinking too loud? What is he thinking?"

She felt her face grow hot because the last question had slipped out before she'd had a chance to filter it, but she couldn't help how badly she wanted to be able to communicate with Kyle, could she?

"I know who he is, but he doesn't think in words most of the time, just sounds. Usually, it's not very loud, but today he's freaking out."

Zoe couldn't help looking over at Kyle again, and he looked as dumbfounded, ironic term that one, as she imagined she did, eyes wide and troubled.

"I'm sorry, Nan. I don't know what to do because he's been upset today, but, like you said, he's only just starting to put his words back together after I, we, um, coming back."

Nan didn't seem to be listening to Zoe any more. She was focused on Kyle, head tilted and eyes bright and opaque as a bird.

"It's not just that. He's been blocking me also. You do that too, Zoe. You have things you don't want anybody to know, and you block them."

Zoe preferred that they talk about Kyle.

"How do you know he's blocking you?"

Nan rolled her eyes.

"How else? He just told me."

"What?"

The answer came out strained and more than a little sarcastic, like this was all so simple that Zoe must be a moron not to be getting it.

"He told me so with his thoughts."

"What did he say then?"

The other girl eyed her with pursed lips and a smirk, now all cat with a belly full of canary.

"He _really_ likes you, loves you even."

Now, she was afraid to even glance over in Kyle's direction, but she had to know.

"Did he say that?"

"No, but I can feel it. He said he can show you. Actually, it was 'Show Zoe', but that's what he meant."

Now Zoe really was confused.

"I guess since I told Kyle I'm a witch he thinks I can do any kind of magic, but I can't. I don't have what you have."

"How do you know? Have you ever even tried?"

"No, but—"

"Then, you don't know. Come over here to him."

Nan grabbed Zoe's hand and walked her over to where Kyle was sitting on the floor. Poor thing must be used to floors by now, like it was a punishment not to sit on the furniture because he hadn't sufficiently proved to her that he was house-trained. That thought hurt dead center in her chest, like a bruise that reminded you it was there all the time only when you knocked it against something.

"Now what?"

Nan took a few steps back.

"Sit down there across from him and hold his hands."

Zoe sat down carefully but looked over at the other girl doubtfully.

"He doesn't want me touching him today."

Nan giggled.

"Oh yes he does."

Kyle was looking off to the side, not making eye contact with her, but he raised his hands, palms extended to her, so she placed her own in them, and he held on.

"I don't hear anything."

"You're not trying."

"Yes, I am."

"You're afraid."

"But I want to help him, so I'm trying."

"Zoe, I already told you. You are closed. You can't see because you're too busy pushing him away."

"I have to, or I'll hurt him worse."

"If you want to help him, you have to open yourself and let him in. That's the only way it will work."

Kyle was listening to everything Nan said, and it was clear he knew that all of it applied equally to him. And maybe he was braver than she was because he made himself look at her, dead in the eyes, and meeting his in return was like the abyss of his loneliness and pleading was gazing into her from their black depths, pupils swallowed up by iris and no hope of finding where one ended and the other began.

"Open, Zoe. Please."

Zoe forced herself to take a slow deep breath and hated how shuddery it sounded, so she took another. All the feelings she'd pressed deep down in the darkest places inside her began to shift and move, and she was terrified letting it all out would break her into a thousand pieces, so she honed in on Kyle instead. Water was pooling in his eyes, and when he blinked tiny little droplets stuck to his eyelashes. Zoe flashed back to that night in the greenhouse, the white light that was rainbow-tinted at the same time like soap bubbles or opals, and it happened again. The tear droplets turned iridescent, and then a full-sized teardrop hung just for a second at the inner corner of his eye like a dewdrop on a blade of grass or a leaf transfigured by a ray of sunlight, but then everything changed.

She went somewhere else altogether, but she could still sense herself on the floor of her bedroom at Miss Robichaux's, could still feel Kyle's hands holding her own, gripping them tight. It didn't make any sense, but she closed her eyes to see better. There was something familiar about the room. It was a bathroom, a kind of ugly one, and the shower was running. Somebody was in the shower. And then she knew: it was Kyle's bathroom at Kyle's house that he'd shared with his mother, and then she was there, Alicia, and she was walking toward the shower. She opened the curtain, and Kyle was inside, wet and naked and terrified.

Back at Miss Robichaux's, Kyle whimpered, but Zoe couldn't look away. She watched it happen, knew it was far from the first time. It was awful, and it was all her fault.

"No, no, no…."

Kyle began sobbing, broken and incoherent, like a little kid. Zoe opened her eyes. She felt so much it was choking her, but her voice was a halting monotone grating harshly in her ears.

"That's why you did it. She hurt you. You had to make it stop. And I just left you there with her…"

Kyle yanked his hands free and launched himself at her, face buried against her chest, still crying. How could he bear to touch her at all after what she'd done? She put her arms around him and held him close, and then they were rocking back and forth slowly.

"It's okay, Zoe."

"No, it's not. I'm so, so sorry, Kyle. So sorry."

Those last words came out a whisper almost as soft as Nan closing the bedroom door behind her.

* * *

"Evening, Baron. I should have known you'd come in. It _is_ your night."

The man in the black suit and top hat had pulled up a chair at Melly's table with no invitation, not that he needed one. He propped his stick against an empty chair and took a careless slurp of his drink, a strong aroma of rum filling the air, before he replied.

"And so it is, but I always know where to find you, my friend. We are in the same business, or rather you make more business for me wherever you go. Lurene's is quiet for a Saturday."

"It's early yet."

"That may be. Early for some, later for others."

Baron Samedi shrugged and took another belt from his glass. His eyes weren't visible behind the dark shades, and Melly idly wondered if the others in the room could see the flashes of bone-white through the Baron's skin the way he could. He decided he didn't care enough to ask.

"Good point. So, am I to believe you followed me here? You flatter me."

"You flatter yourself. You are always an amusing companion though, so all is well. I expect I am here for the same reason you are, or should I say 'reasons.'"

"Ah, yes. Resurrection is a particular hobby of yours, isn't it? And resurrectionists as well."

"Pretty things they are, if you like them skinny. You fuck them both, or just the mean one?"

"What do you think?"

"I think you're happy with the mean one because she reminds you of you. The other has more power, ya know. A lot more. Your girl barely helped bring back the boy."

"Maybe so, but, as you say, she _is_ mean, and she is all mine."

"She has other talents perhaps."

Melly just shook his head as the Baron indulged himself in generous chuckling punctuated with another gulp of his rum drink.

"Anyway, we'll win in the end. We always have."

….

The water was nice, warm and wet. Well, water was always wet, of course, but being inside Zoe was better. She finally let him see her back. Not her body back like where his hands were sliding up and down. He let her see his secret thing of why he had to kill Alicia, and Zoe was letting him see back. When they first came in here he kissed her and pulled her against him, finally really naked to him, and then he saw her on the bed with the one she killed by mistake. She was liking it at first, but then the blood started dripping down that boy's face. It made her so sad she swallowed it down to the bottom of her insides, how doing it with her killed him, but she didn't mean to. She didn't know it would happen.

"Are you okay, Kyle? Are you sure you feel all right?"

Kyle bucked up inside her, his cock enveloped by her. The water was splashing out on the floor, but Zoe didn't seem to mind about that.

"Feel everything. Feel everything good."

She was getting close, and he was so happy, but then it happened again. Zoe was showing him something else. Maybe she didn't even know she was doing it. The floor was white and shiny, hospital floor. Yes, there were drapes around a bed, and Zoe was going in. It was Archie. Before she opened the drapes, her face said she was praying, but now it was sad.

"You feel so good, Kyle."

"Zoe is good."

It was confusing being one place and seeing another, but he couldn't stop now, not when he had what he had wanted for so long. Zoe was here, and she was riding him hard and fast, but so was the Zoe she was showing him, except it was Archie she was riding, and he was asleep, and now her face was mean.

"You wanted it to be me. Me alive."

"I did, Kyle. I wanted it so bad."

Archie's eyes were bleeding, and his whole body was shaking. They were the same. They were the same!

"Archie and my mother were the same, and Zoe and Kyle are the same."

Wow, that was the longest sentence he'd made in ages, the ages when he was regular-alive instead of special-alive.

"You don't hate me?"

"Love you. I love Zoe."

"I love you too, Kyle."

Then, Archie went away, and Zoe was coming, and he knew it for sure because she was making it wet all over him, not like excited-wet, like exploding-out-wet. It was hotter than the bath water, so he knew it was her for sure. And he made her do it. She did it for him. Zoe killed Archie because he lived, and Kyle killed Alicia because she hurt him. Zoe loved him dripping red in blood, and Kyle loved Zoe because she let him in all the way. And then he was coming too, and it wasn't red, but now he knew Zoe wouldn't care if it was.

….

"I wouldn't be so sure. You feel that, that just now. That's real power. That's what that is."

"Yeah, I felt it, but it doesn't matter. I'm not worried."

"So you say, but when they get together like that, they make the balance. They make vengeance too sometimes maybe instead of justice, but Damballah and Ayida-Weddo see in them the unity of the cosmos: life and death and life again. As it is and ever shall be. That Damballah, he has a soft place for the broken ones too, and that boy is broken."

"His brains are jello."

"That is a lie, and that isn't like you. He loves her, and he loves fucking her, and that feeds the forces in her. You won't get her with tricks and pretty words."

The Baron finished his drink and ordered another with a wave of his hand.

"Everything you say may be true, but it won't matter. He may give her more strength, but he's also her greatest weakness."

Melly glanced at his watch. He was supposed to meet Madison back at his place fifteen minutes ago.

"Rude boy, to be disregarding me, but I forgive you because little meanie is wondering where you at. Best not to keep the skinny, mean ones waiting. They only get meaner."

Melly smiled and stood up.

"Thanks for your indulgence, but come back and talk to me soon. We'll see what you think after I pay the boy a little visit."

The Baron lit a cigar and grinned around the first few puffs.

"Sounds like you're planning to help my business, and my door is always open for business. You go on to your pleasure."

"Good night, Baron."

"Good night, young Melly."

* * *

Zoe had been enjoying the first peaceful night's sleep she'd had since she couldn't remember when, but something woke her. It was Kyle, and this time he wasn't snuggled in soft and warm beside her. He was thrashing and moaning in his sleep. She'd always heard you shouldn't wake a sleepwalker, but that didn't apply to somebody having a nightmare, did it? She was torn, but then she decided to risk it because he sounded so pitiful, terrified even. She put her hand on his shoulder and shook it gently.

"Kyle, wake up. It's okay. It's a bad dream."

His eyes flew open, but Zoe didn't think he could see her at first, and she guessed it wasn't too surprising considering the vision-sharing they'd done earlier. Now, after a bad dream, he was that much more likely to be confused. Still, it was hard seeing him cower back from her with his eyes darting around like he'd drifted into slumber gazing at a child's night light projecting a peaceful, starry sky dancing across the ceiling only to awaken into a swirling hailstorm of comet debris, a flaming jet trail about to rain down utter devastation upon him.

"Kyle, it's me. It's Zoe. You're awake now. You're here with me, and you're safe. We're safe. Everything's all right."

Finally, he seemed to recognize her, but he still looked afraid.

"It's Zoe?"

"Yes, baby. It's me."

Kyle moved closer and stared at her face like it was going to melt into a puddle of goo. He touched her cheek with his index finger and waited. When nothing happened, he threw his arms around her and held her so tight she could barely breathe.

"Stay Zoe!"

"It's okay, Kyle. I'm right here."

"No, no. Stay _Zoe_!"

He wasn't making any sense.

"I'm not going anywhere. I won't leave you. I promise, Kyle."

She could tell he was still messed up from the dream. Maybe it was all that stuff they'd put out there earlier, the stuff about his mother. That would give anybody nightmares.

* * *

He'd kept Madison waiting a little longer than he let the Baron think tonight, but now he was headed her way, and she'd better be ready. Hot damn, Kyle got him hot. It wasn't that he was especially into guys. He was more of an omnivore like Madison probably, but what he'd said to the boy in his dream was true. He was very pretty, especially that mouth of his.

Melly had gone to the abandoned warehouse near Miss Robichaux's to do his dream-walking because he needed to be alone, and he liked it to be somewhere dark and nearby the sleeper he wanted to visit, although that last part wasn't really necessary. In the dream Kyle was back out in the greenhouse where he'd spent so much time pining for Zoe, pining maybe, but a lot of it was good-old-fashioned lusting.

 _When Kyle looked up, Zoe was standing over him. She didn't say anything, just sat down next to him on the blanket and started kissing him. She smiled and ran her hands up and down his body, and he liked it. Melly could tell how much he liked it. Then, she got right down to it, opening his pants and taking his cock out. He was already half-hard, and so was Kyle._

 _It was a beauty, and he was sure Madison would take all the credit for that. Zoe took Kyle's cock in her hand with an ease and confidence that should have tipped him off that something wasn't quite right, but Melly guessed he didn't blame him for that. Better and less brain-fucked guys than Kyle went stupid when somebody they wanted to have do it got ahold of their business like that. After a couple of strokes, Zoe smiled honey-sweet at him and then ran the tip of her tongue around the head of his dick like she was enjoying the best ice cream cone ever._

 _Kyle grunted and jerked his hips at her. She next proceeded to suck him into her mouth and go to work. Then, she stopped for a second to make sure she was doing it the way he liked it._

 _"_ _Nobody knows you like me, knows your body like I do."_

 _Kyle jumped like he'd been shot and tried to get away from her, but he couldn't move a muscle because it wasn't Zoe any more stroking his stuff and beaming beatifically at him. Now, it was Alicia_.

Melly had to stop and laugh at the memory. If Kyle had had a knife, he would have probably sawed off his own cock to get it away from Mommy not-so-Dearly Departed.

 _But, oops, everything was okay after all because Kyle blinked a couple of times, and it was Zoe again. She started up the suction, and it had to feel awesome. Dream-Zoe was blowing him like a champ. Porn-star-level skills were being employed, and old Kyle was fucking her in the mouth and just about to come his balls off when, once again, things changed just a little bit._

 _Zoe turned capricious and cruel and just stopped and slid him out of her mouth. She delicately wiped the back of her hand over her lips and climbed up him a little further and sat down right across his chest, pinning him to the floor, only this time it wasn't Zoe, but it wasn't Alicia, that freak, either. It was yours truly, Melly, in person._

 _Kyle wanted to go ape-shit; Melly could see that, but he needed him to pay attention, so he put his finger across his own lips and shushed Kyle with the result that it also kept him from making a sound or so much as turning his head to look away, paralyzed him to utter helplessness in fact._

 _He ran the tip of the same finger languidly around the circle of the boy's slack mouth._

 _"_ _Hi there, Kyle. You really are a pretty hung thing, aren't you? You don't know me, but we have people in common. I knew your mother, obviously, fascinating woman, and I know Zoe. As you can see, I'm a monster too, but I'm a much bigger one than any one of you. Please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Michael, Michael Langdon, but people call me Melly, if they think they want to be my friend._

 _Last night when you had this dream, it stopped with mommy drooling all over you, and that was pretty awful, wasn't it? I think this is maybe worse though, letting you think Zoe was going down on you and then stealing her away. That's what I do, Kyle. It's my own particular specialty, thinking of worse things and then doing them._

 _When we meet again, and we will meet again, if you decide to be my friend, Zoe will always be Zoe when you're together. If you decide not to, well, I know what face scares you the most, don't I? And that's the face you'll see every time she touches you. I'll give you a couple of nights off to fuck her and think it over, but one day, one day soon, you will have to choose_."

And no matter what the Baron had to say about it, Michael knew how this was going to end. Maybe he wasn't quite ready to drag the whole planet down to hell, but he wasn't about to let some little witchy-poo and her pet zombie get to thinking they could stop him when he did decide it was time for the lights to go out. Nobody was going to do that, not Zoe, not Kyle, not anybody. For now though, he was having way too much fun to piss out the candle. This was New Orleans, chile. Personally, he'd always preferred rolling to candy-flipping, and there was still plenty of time to laissez les bons temps rouler.

"Long Snake Moan"

Dunk you under

Deep salt water

Bring me, lover,

All your power

I'll be no hell

Out of your spell

Over, under

Die of pleasure

In my dreamin'

You'll be drownin'

Hell's low, God above

All drunk on my love

You oughta hear my long snake moan

You oughta see me from my throne

Dunk you under

Deep salt water

In my dreamin'

You'll be drownin'

Raise me up, Lord

Call me "Lazarus"

Hey Lord, help me

Make ready my veil

You oughta hear my long snake moan

You oughta see me from my throne

Is my voodoo workin'?…


End file.
